A natural gas pipeline from North Slope, Alaska to Alberta, Calgary, considered a national priority by both Congress and the Obama administration, picked up momentum this month when Exxon Mobil Corp. announced it would join TransCanada Corp. to compete with the Denali gas line project proposed by BP and Conoco Phillips. TransCanada has the backing of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's administration, which pushed through the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act in 2007 that made the company eligible to receive up to $500 million from the state for up-front costs.
The Anchorage Daily News recently interviewed Drue Pearce, an Alaskan that leads the federal agency responsible for expediting the construction of a gas line that will commercialize North Slope gas and bring it to Lower 48 markets.
An excerpt:
Q. Is the support in the administration talk, or is it actual support?
A. Oh, no, I think it's strong support. I'll give you an example. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, after his confirmation, the pipeline was one of the first things he asked to be briefed about. And we've seen that in a number of agencies. People want to get to work on this project. Everybody supports it; it's a great project, it's huge, lots of opportunities for lots of people to be involved.
You see analysts saying, "The money's not there, the prices aren't in the right place for a project of this magnitude, there are shale deposits looking very promising in the Lower 48."
The beauty of commercializing our gas is it's going to tie into a system of pipelines that's already in place. Conventional natural gas production in western Canada is declining. The pipes are already there. Our gas will replace the gas that's in decline, coming into upper Midwestern markets that neither the shale gas nor LNG, frankly, are coming to on a massive scale. So we have almost a ready-made market. People are dependent on there being gas coming through those lines and nobody envisions that they will be taken out of service. Both companies have said, looking at the early modeling they've done, they believe they can deliver gas into market at an economic tariff.
The Anchorage Daily News recently interviewed Drue Pearce, an Alaskan that leads the federal agency responsible for expediting the construction of a gas line that will commercialize North Slope gas and bring it to Lower 48 markets.
An excerpt:
Q. Is the support in the administration talk, or is it actual support?
A. Oh, no, I think it's strong support. I'll give you an example. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, after his confirmation, the pipeline was one of the first things he asked to be briefed about. And we've seen that in a number of agencies. People want to get to work on this project. Everybody supports it; it's a great project, it's huge, lots of opportunities for lots of people to be involved.
You see analysts saying, "The money's not there, the prices aren't in the right place for a project of this magnitude, there are shale deposits looking very promising in the Lower 48."
The beauty of commercializing our gas is it's going to tie into a system of pipelines that's already in place. Conventional natural gas production in western Canada is declining. The pipes are already there. Our gas will replace the gas that's in decline, coming into upper Midwestern markets that neither the shale gas nor LNG, frankly, are coming to on a massive scale. So we have almost a ready-made market. People are dependent on there being gas coming through those lines and nobody envisions that they will be taken out of service. Both companies have said, looking at the early modeling they've done, they believe they can deliver gas into market at an economic tariff.